


cats on the loose

by puffygyu



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Bartender Mingyu, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, bad food references, if you squint really hard you can find a hint of angst, jeonghan as the perfect love consultant, mingyu has a big black cat which he loves very much, pushing my puppy mingyu agenda, vet wonwoo, wonwoo is afraid of love but he can't help falling when it comes to gyu, wonwoo just wants to do his job but mingyu can't leave his brain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28478172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puffygyu/pseuds/puffygyu
Summary: While seeing pets every day in his job, Wonwoo still didn’t know how to handle a human-sized puppy that came bursting into his heart.orVet Wonwoo is just here to do his job and Mingyu and his sick cat weren’t part of the equation.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 12
Kudos: 249





	cats on the loose

**Author's Note:**

> this is my contribution to the puppygyu agenda.
> 
> and i am no vet, so please take everything with a lot of salt.

Working in an animal clinic, happiness and grief were for sure very closely linked together. There was the girl who cuddled up her big ball of fluff after a successful surgery, while in the room on the left side, an owner bid farewell to his lifelong companion, who had to leave this world due to his incurable disease. The first time Wonwoo took part in this procedure, he cried one hour in the bathroom afterwards, eyes swollen and puffy when he left for his new patient, his colleagues clapping down encouragingly on his shoulder. _Everyone has to go through this, but it gets better_ they seemed to say.

Now, having worked here for almost over a year, Wonwoo had gotten used to the thrill (and he only allowed himself to cry for 15 minutes in the bathroom). Quick check-ups had become a routine, knowing all the names of the animals and owners, who were regularly visiting him were one too. He knew what small-talk to do and which buttons to push to loosen up the tense atmosphere distinct to every vet-visit.

His careful established routine came to a quick stop when on a rainy Wednesday morning he saw a completely unfamiliar name on his list of today’s patients.

Wonwoo starred down at the unfamiliar name for a moment, before leaning over and pushing a button on his desk, prompting the LED-Screen outside in the waiting area to switch to another number and hopefully cueing Kim Mingyu to enter the room with his sick cat.

He didn’t have to wait for long, a soft knock on his door, it getting pushed open shortly after. Wonwoo was ready for initial small talk, the words however died right there on the tip of his tongue.

_Oh god._

Kim Mingyu consisted of 95% long legs, heaving a blue transport box in the room, definitely not wearing anything under his low-cut cardigan.

_Oh no._

Wonwoo knew this look on his face. He had seen it plenty on puppies and dogs when he pulled out the syringe, was playing hide and seek with their treats or they had to prove how unhappy they were; it was an expression of utmost heartbrokenness. The only difference to the puppy eyes Kim Mingyu displayed to the world were the hint of glistening tears.

Wonwoo knew the different kind of people walking through is door. The ones trying to hide their anxiety but always failing to do so when sitting down. The ones trying to make idles chatter to gloss over the reason for their meeting and also the ones, who threw all courtesy away and let their tears flow. Maybe Kim Mingyu was the latter.

Tearing his eyes apart from the owner, they wandered to the box, from which small and pitiful meows escaped occasionally. Someone was not happy to be here.

Wonwoo gestured his patient to take a seat in front of him.

“Kim Mingyu-sshi? What brings you here?”, Wonwoo decided to cut to the chase.

With the utmost care in the world the addressed placed the box on the ground, triggering a long meow. Sad puppy eyes intensified.

“My cat started to develop those weird bumps on her body and she scratches them quite a lot. They grew over the last week and I thought it may be better to let them check out.”

He started rummaging through his cardigan-pockets, before pulling out a bright yellow document, sliding it over to Wonwoo. The doctor took the vaccination pass, browsing through. In the five-year lifespan of Peaches (Wonwoo had to read that name twice) her owner had never missed any vaccination shot nor regular check-ups. Everything was thoroughly documented. For a brief moment Wonwoo wondered why he would switch his vet so suddenly, but this wasn’t his point to make, so he sealed those thoughts off. He extracted every information he needed from the document, putting it aside at last.

“Well, let’s have a look at those weird bumps then.”

He rose from his seat, grabbing the cat-box on his way and placing it on the examination table, Mingyu followed suit.

Wonwoo opened the box, ready to pull out its inhabitant.

Emerging was a jet-black cat with long fur. Mingyu besides him sniffed at the sight and Wonwoo was debating if he should reach for tissues. In the end he rather ruffled through Peaches soft fluffy fur; as a reaction she hissed at him. This was already going great.

“I am sure it won’t be something serious.”, he tried reassuring Mingyu, the possibility of tears still in the room.

The puppy eyes stayed, but this time they weren’t glistening with tears anymore. Wonwoo took this as a win and as the cue to focus his energy on the real patient instead. He earned another hiss, but Peaches stayed in her place regardless, laying like a loaf of bread on the examination table.

Routinely he let his hands wander over her body, locating three of the knobby points Mingyu had spoken of, softly pressing down on them. For one moment of complete silence he was working away, not even Mingyu daring to disturb the atmosphere of pure concentration. Shortly after, Wonwoo was ready to issue his diagnosis.

“This is probably an allergic reaction. If she didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary, her fur could be the problem. To eliminate further possibilities, I can inject her an anti-flee syringe to observe if the itchiness disappears with them. Therefore, it would be good if you could come to a check-up in two weeks again. Till then, I can only advise you to bath her once a week and observe if her pattern changes.”

Mingyu was nodding so fast, Wonwoo was worried his head would snap from his neck. Fortunately, his head was still attached to his body when Wonwoo lifted his gaze, rummaging through his drawer in the search of mentioned syringe. It was quickly found, the doctor returning to his patient.

He pushed down on the syringe a little bit, ready to inject, when he felt something soft on his other hand, soft like another hand holding his.

Kim Mingyu was holding his hand.

For one moment Wonwoo was so taken aback, he didn’t know how to react. While every other owner certainly had some quirks when their pets were laying on his table (from looking the other way to humming a tune), till now no one had dared to full-on grab his hand – especially no one good looking as Kim Mingyu.

He cleared his throat.

“Mr. Kim, I need my hand for holding your cat in place. Would you mind letting go?”

Maybe he was imagining things, but maybe there was a soft blush gracing Mingyu’s face as he was wriggling his hand away, suddenly feeling so cold and barren without it.

“Could I hold your coat instead? I am not good with syringes.”

Wonwoo wanted to reply, that his cat was the one suffering and not he, one look however at those still glossy puppy-eyes and he just nodded.

A weight was added to his body, this time he didn’t complain.

With a swift movement the needle sank into Peaches, the cat trying to wriggle her way out, but Wonwoo’s grip on her body was merciless. The procedure was over in less than 10 seconds, his coat grumbled from Mingyu’s tight grip and the material slipped through his fingers when Wonwoo moved to dispose the used syringe. 

He sat down on his desk again, Peaches still laying like a less gracious sphinx on the table.

Wonwoo pulled open a formula on his computers, placing Peaches name on top, Mingyu’s right beside and typing in several numbers. He then turned the screen in Mingyu’s direction. 

“This would be the price of the syringe and treatment. You could also pay in installments if you would like.”

Wonwoo made a wild guess here, Mingyu still looked fairly young, probably a college student. When the doctor thought back to his not this far away college-days, he thought about being broke 80% of the time.

But Mingyu shook his head.

“No, that’s fine, money isn’t the problem.”

_Rich parents._

Instead of pulling out a credit card like Wonwoo would have assumed, Kim Mingyu really laid down several 10000 Won banknotes. The last time Wonwoo had paid in cash was at his local ajumma restaurant, which refused to get acquainted with those “unreliable electronics”. But he didn’t question it, instead taking in the money, hitting a key on the keyboard. The printer rumbled to life, letting out Mingyu’s receipt.

“The follow-up checkup would be in two weeks. Do you want to come in rather in the morning, afternoon or evening?”  
Mingyu sniffed again while pushing back his banknotes in his pocket.

“Morning sounds good.”

“10:30 it is then.”

For a short moment the only sound that could be heard was Wonwoo’s pen scratching over paper, eventually handing over the check-up notice. It met the same fate as the vaccination proof and the endless bank notes: being stuffed into the cardigan.

This time, Peaches didn’t attempt to hiss at him, when Wonwoo carefully placed her in the transport box again, maybe knowing that her torture had been over for now.

“See you in two weeks, Mr. Kim.”

Kim Mingyu bowed so deep, Wonwoo was afraid his head would hit the ugly floor tiles. But he barely escaped the fate and with a last sniffle, Kim Mingyu left the office.

The next time Wonwoo thought about his encounter with Kim Mingyu was three days later while examining a dog, who had decided that eating chocolate was the right thing to do. The dog shot him the exact same look the too tall human being had given him and for one second Wonwoo was taking aback by the resemblance. Then he shook his head and decided to ban further all the thoughts about this topic; he had a job to do.

Despite the ban about everything Kim Mingyu related, his brain refused to cooperate and rather keep wandering off to territories that should not be explored. Wonwoo didn’t know why his thoughts came circling back to the man, but he vaguely suspected it partially was linked to his puppy-like behavior. And his hand had felt nice in his.

One time Wonwoo caught himself starring at the contact sheet Mingyu filled out in the beginning in his little break. He didn’t get any worthy information out of it besides finding out the one being three years younger than him. At this point Wonwoo acknowledged his growing problem and with a swift, but determined movement locked away the sheet and refusing any other input than work and ideas for dinner.

Wonwoo’s first memory with animals dated back to him being five, a white rabbit in his tiny arms, holding the heartbeat close to his body and stroking the fur with his short fingers. A slightly yellowed photo of this scene existed in a big photobook that was called the family treasure besides his grandmother’s ancient kimchi jar and his father’s Seoul University Diploma.

With ten Wonwoo read through everything related with animals, from encyclopedias to animal fiction, chased stray cats and always ran into the rain to see how worms and snails claimed their territory. When he was 15 school pushed back his interest, his teenage years claiming other hobbies till the big question about his future came around.

No one was particularly surprised by Wonwoo applying to basically every veterinarian program in the country, only to get accepted by almost every one of them. His parents now could brag to their neighbours about the doctor in their family – even when his patients had fur. Soonyoung retorted to calling him the cat whisperer, while Jihoon bonded with him over the endless all-nighters they pulled, Wonwoo reciting all bones available in feline friends, Jihoon drinking too much red bull to power through music theory.

Too many crazy college years, mental breakdowns and all-nighters later, Wonwoo graduated at the peak age of 27, ready for adult life.

Adult life came crushing down on him through doing taxes, a full-time job eating up all his energy and never-ending housework. But despite everything Wonwoo thought he was doing pretty well for himself (a lot better than Soonyoung, obviously, who called him crying twice a week for almost setting his microwave on fire). He was doing so well, and Kim Mingyu was set out there to kill it all (even though the younger didn’t know about his participation).

Wonwoo simultaneously grabbed his pen while pushing the button. He also did not let it go as the door opened. This time, there were no puppy eyes. Instead Mingyu’s eyes were sparkling, an almost excited smile on his lips; Wonwoo could feel something mushy in his stomach, Mingyu’s soft looking pullover did nothing to ease that job.

A meowl was the cue for the doctor to snap out of the weird trance he had thrown himself into; while his owner seemed rather happy to be here, the main character of this visit was not.

“Taking away from the fact that you didn’t call, I guess there were no complications?”

The smile grew even wider on Mingyu’s face and he furiously shook his head, placing his precious pet besides him on the floor. Wonwoo wondered for a moment if his head come off if he shook it a little while longer.

To his dismay (or luck, he couldn’t tell), Mingyu stopped abruptly, seemingly to remember the need to talk.

“No! Some of them are still there, but they are barely visible. She doesn’t scratch them much either now.”

The smile on his face was so bright now, that it almost blinded Wonwoo in its capacity. He actually had to look away, too afraid of this possibility really occurring in the end. This also sealed the deal of avoiding any unnecessary chatter

“I will have a look then.”, came his brisk response. Something flashed over Mingyu’s face (was that regret?) before settling back on a bright expression. Knowing the deal by now, he heaved Peaches on the table, Wonwoo taking over by lifting her out of the cage gently. She decided to not hiss at him this time, but the look she sent him spoke for itself. It was routine however for the doctor, no animal really liked sitting on the table connected to pain. She didn’t stop starring at him when he moved his hands over the body, sometimes softly grooming through her fur. Mingyu took it a lot better this time, looking at his cat with fond eyes (Wonwoo couldn’t explain the empty feeling when he realized no hand would find its way into his coat).

While one part of his brain was busy mourning the loss of Mingyu’s body heat, the other moved on autopilot finding the bumps in question. They had drastically decreased in size.

“I also managed to bath her once.”, came the proud statement from Mingyu, triggering the scene of a Mingyu standing under the shower with a pitiful meowling Peaches in Wonwoo’s brain.

He did not sign up for this. Hastily, he pressed down on the bumps one more time.

He was sure they would disappear in the next few days; a new appointment wouldn’t be necessary.

“It would be good if you could come in for one last check-up, just to be sure.”, his mouth said. Great.

He let go of Peaches, instead turning to her owner and got startled by how close Mingyu was standing behind him.

Wonwoo only now noticed how tired Mingyu looked. The eyebags appeared engraved in his tanned skin. The bright bubble-gum looking sweater gave its best to distract from the fact, but Wonwoo noticed anyways. For one moment he was taken aback by realizing how handsome Mingyu really was. While he gave himself the illusion the first time, they met of taking a good glance at his face, this proved to be a lie. He noticed two small moles, each on his nose and his cheeks. Weren’t it for those cheeks, which occasionally got puffed up by Mingyu’s pouting, Wonwoo would have been convinced he just escaped some kind of fashion magazine. But instead combined with his unstyled hair almost falling into his eyes, it gave Mingyu a soft touch, taking away the clean-cut edge he could radiate otherwise. His eyes wandered further to Mingyu’s lips, it hitting him now why the puppy reference was so engraved in his mind: there were canines poking out the corners of his lips.

Maybe this was the sign, that they were standing too close to each other – Wonwoo should really get his act together, before everything spiraled downwards.

He cleared his throat in a last attempt to banish every Kim Mingyu related thoughts, placing Peaches back in her box. After the done deed he returned to his desk, picking up his dogfood sponsored pencil, Mingyu trailing right behind him.

“The next appointment also in the morning?”  
“What date would that be?”  
Wonwoo swung around in his chair lightly, flicking through his cat-calendar on his right.

“The 27th.”

A weird expression took over Mingyu’s face, his brows and lips furrowing together and it took a while for Wonwoo to realize – this was Mingyu’s thinking-face. In the end he shook his head.

“Afternoon would be better.”

What job did he have anyways?

“How about 16:45?”

Mingyu agreed to the suggestion with a wide grin and excited nod. 

Wonwoo wrote down the date and pushed the card across the table. For one fleeting second their hands brushed past each other. What was that, a damned romance novel?

Mingyu apparently didn’t take any notice of it, the slip of paper disappearing in his hand.

“Then, see you again in two weeks. If any emergency comes up, please call.”

Wonwoo always had been bad with ending conversations, but this was made 100% even more awkward by the fact that he didn’t know how to process the touch of Mingyu. He suddenly felt like he was 12 again – never a good sign.

Mingyu didn’t have any issues (or sudden age reverses), standing up and grabbing his sad cat in the box, almost _waving_ at Wonwoo when he shuffled to the door.

“Goodbye, Doctor Jeon.”

Despite Clubs never fitting Wonwoo’s taste, he had left his crazy party days behind in his second year of college anyways. Bar hopping or getting drunk at dinner, however, were a complete other story.

After graduation, Jihoon, Soonyoung and he had set up this one rule (the golden rule of their friendship, Soonyoung liked to call it): meeting up at least once a month, getting awfully drunk and spending all their income on food and alcohol. This was their plan against the curse of drifting apart and till now it had worked exceptionally well.

For this get-together they had chosen a new, hip place 10 minutes away from their old university. Food and Soju had been ordered, till their table was groaning under the weight of dirty plates and empty bottles. Wonwoo had stopped counting after his third glass, it had been enough to send Soonyoung stumbling the streets clinging on to Jihoon.

What a sad stance for a choreographer.

Jihoon and Wonwoo, however, had come to the unanimous decision that they were not drunk enough yet for this night to end, picking a bar for their second stop, which had been standing on their to-do-list for quite a while now. Soonyoung didn’t have another chance besides following them.

After a short walk by foot, they squished themselves together in the building’s elevator, going up to the 6th floor for said bar.

The bar set the atmosphere with the toned-down lights to “intimate-sleepy”, successfully hiding all their interior choices with it too, something ranging from classic retro to straight run-down. Soonyoung squealed in joy either way, leading their small group to one of the tables across the counter. Half of the tables were filled with chatting people, some of them evidently talking louder thanks to the glasses in front of them.

Soonyoung threw himself over the seat, instantly reaching for the menu.

“Ohh, they actually have a great variety of drinks.”  
Jihoon followed him less enthusiastically, plopping down on one of the seats, leaving Wonwoo to the outer corner. Soonyoung hugged up the menu for quite a while before remembering to include the other two, turning it around with a dramatic sound.

“Beer for me.”, Jihoon made his choice.

“For me this one.”

And with those words he called for the waiter, completely ignoring Wonwoo. He groaned and pulled the menu to himself, scanning over all the familiar drink names, hoping the waiter would take his sweet time.

“Dr. Jeon?”

Wonwoo froze. This familiar voice. It couldn’t be-

Slowly, he lifted his gaze and right in front of him stood Kim Mingyu, dressed in black from head to toe, three buttons of his shirt undone, an iPad in his hand, ready to take orders.

Oh no.

Thousands of bars in Seoul and they chose the one where Mingyu was working.

Great.

He could feel Jihoon and Soonyoung’s gazes boring into his head, could almost feel the giggle threatening to escape Soonyoung, while Jihoon’s eyebrows were probably arching higher than his hairline.

Mingyu looked so different standing in front of him, he could almost feel the two perceptions of Mingyu’s fighting in his head. The Mingyu here exposed his forehead, having swept his hair upwards, the shirt exposing too much of his chest and a dozen of rings and bracelets on his hands. But the expression on his face was still the Mingyu that had stood in his office, almost crying because of his cat, the resemblance of a puppy so prominent it would be a crime not to draw.

Mingyu took his silence as confusion.

“Ah, I am sorry, maybe you don’t remember me. I am Kim Mingyu, I was twice at your clinic for my cat Peaches.”

And there it was again, this blinding smile which even lit up this dark room.

Against his will Wonwoo felt his face heating up. It must have affected his brain in one way or another, because the words coming out of his mouth were just embarrassing.

“No, I remember you.”

The smile became even brighter, a sense of excitement radiating from Mingyu, as he tapped on his iPad.

“Did you already decide on your drinks?”

This was the cue for Soonyoung to let his drunk side out, embarrassing Wonwoo even further; his friend basically threw himself over table, to have a better look at Mingyu.

“Oh hi, if I knew that this place had so handsome waiters I would have come earlier.”

Soonyoung let his finger slide down the menu.

“One beer, a Mojito and for Wonu here the Sex on the Beach.”

Wonwoo opened his mouth to protest Soonyoung’s drink choice, but Mingyu had already furiously tapped away on his ipad, giving Soonyoung a bright smile.

“The drinks will be here soon.”

And with a last glance to Wonwoo, he turned around and made his way back to the counter.

“Who was _that?_ I always thought we were your only handsome friends.”

“He isn’t my friend?”

Soonyoung cocked an eyebrow in the air.

“Really? He seemed friendly.”

Wonwoo groaned, resisting the urge to bury his face in his hands.

“That’s because I treated his beloved cat at the clinic – something that is very much part of my job.”

That did nothing to wipe that dopey grin from Soonyoung’s face.

“Ah right, I am sure it is just that.”

Jihoon snorted unattractively.

“Maybe he wants Dr. Jeon to take care of something else besides his cat.”

This time Wonwoo folded, clasping his hands over his eyes while Soonyoung and Jihoon went for a tacky high-five, Soonyoung barely missing and hitting Jihoon in the face.

His only luck was the speed in which the bar mixed their drinks. With alcohol in front of them his friends were inclined enough to let the topic slide.

This was till the word of payment came up.

“I say Won-uuu takes his butt up to handsume Mingyu.”

Soonyoung was slurring at this point, the probability of him not being able to walk at all anymore pretty high.

“One vote for that.”

Jihoon slammed down his hand on the table in agreement, making it shake dangerously.

“2 against Won.”

A cackle could be heard from the pun and it automatically made Wonwoo stand up, grabbing his card and receipt. The moment he stood on his legs the wave of alcohol came crushing down on him, making him realize how much he actually drank this evening. But he pulled himself together, even though the room slightly started spinning and wait, why did the light flicker this way?

Like a déjà-vu he could feel his friend’s eyes boring holes in the back of his head. Halfway on the way to the counter, another pair of eyes decided to join and when he looked up, Mingyu gave him a large grin.

Wonwoo awkwardly cleared his throat, Mingyu on the other side of the counter still giving him this silly grin.

“I want to pay.”

As if this wasn’t obvious enough by the paycheck and credit card he held in his hands. Around Mingyu his braincells always decided to suddenly go on vacation without telling him. A warning would be nice.

Fortunately, Mingyu didn’t seem to mind, only stretching out his arm to snatch the piece of paper from Wonwoo’s grip.

“That’s 80000 Won.”

Normally, Wonwoo would now clench his teeth together, marveling over the fact how much his friends decided to drink away on his cost, but this time he only frowned.

“I thought it would be 20000 Won more?”

Mingyu’s grin grew in its capacity, as if Wonwoo had proven himself smart enough to uncover a secret (in fact Wonwoo was impressed with himself, that he still could do simple math in his head).

“The first three drinks are on the house, Dr. Jeon.”

“Is your cat worth three cocktails?”

Wonwoo was not prepared for the gleeful giggle escaping Mingyu’s throat and for a moment he really thought the floor got pulled from his feet. He suddenly had the urge to grip the counter. Hard.

“She is actually worth four, but I didn’t want to go too easy on you.”

If his brain wouldn’t have been so mushy, Wonwoo would have sworn that Mingyu was flirting with him.

“Is this your plan to reduce the price of the check-up?”

He had hoped for another giggle, instead an almost genuine looking smile graced the waiters face. In place of answering, Mingyu took the card out of Wonwoo’s hand, slipping it into the machine with a practiced hand, waiting for the other one to type in his code.

“No, in the end a good doctor also needs to pay his bills.”

Wonwoo’s throat went dry and his head blank, typing in his code, praying that it was the right one. God seemed to acknowledge his prayer, the machine beeping in approval.

“So do waiters in bars.”

“Is this a hint of you caring about me and my financial stability?”  
Wonwoo really needed to get a grip on himself, instead he finally gripped the counter. Before gravity would pull him to the floor.

“No, this is me saying that you didn’t have to buy those drinks, I can fend for myself.”

Mingyu’s face fell a little bit and Wonwoo instantly hated himself, those words came out harsher than they had sounded in his head. If he hurt Mingyu’s feelings however, the younger one didn’t show it.

He politely handed back Wonwoo’s card together with the neatly printed out recipe, which documented how much would be ducted from his paycheck next month.

“I wanted to, to show my gratitude for treating Peaches and me so kindly, so that she can still judge me for my poor job choice when I come back home late.”

There was this question on the tip of his tongue that was waiting to set lose.

_Besides that, is there someone else waiting for you at home?  
_ He swallowed and with that it was gone.

Mingyu bowed, when he straightened his back again, a bright smile was adorning his face. It was a little bit too bright to feel genuine but Wonwoo decided to ignore it. Selective thinking had always been his friend.

“See you in a week.”, was the only thing Wonwoo could mutter, spinning around and making his way back to the table, where Soonyoung had fallen asleep.

Wonwoo woke up the next morning with a heavy headache and one new message from Jihoon, after dreaming of giggles and canines, suspiciously looking like they belonged to Mingyu.

Groggily he unlocked his phone, making a note in his head to visit the bathroom in the next step.

**Hoon-ah**

Cute

[image]

Wonwoo spluttered, his stomach turning upside down; the picture consisted of a smiling Mingyu, leaning over the counter. Leaning over to Wonwoo.

Wonwoo cursed Jihoon and his not dying habit of embarrassing Wonwoo in a sense no one else could. After recovering from the initial shock, he started to zoom into the picture with shaky fingers.

Damn, Mingyu should always wear black clothes and style his hair in this particular fashion, it looked..good. It still stood in contrast to the Mingyu that burst into his office with his cat, the bright soft hoodie, pulled down hair and tired eyes, but this didn’t stop Wonwoo from appreciating them both.

With a heavy breather he locked his phone, trying even harder to ban the thought of canines and long legs from his memory.

His screen lit up again and Wonwoo peeked over, because he didn’t value his life enough.

**Hoon-ah**

You will thank me for that later

When he was 19, Wonwoo entered a long-term relationship. With 24 he realized his existence to his alleged significant other had just become whatever, he being the only fool still playing the role of an in-love boyfriend, not being notified of the show being cancelled. 

Standing on the sideline watching your life falling apart was never a pleasant experience, Wonwoo seeing his almost ex-boyfriend with another person while his heart was shattering in his chest was neither. He remembered standing on the sidewalk for almost one hour, starring at the place his boyfriend had been laughing with someone else, even breathing hurting every bone in his body.

He locked himself up for five months in his flat, refusing to react to any bait of social interaction his friends threw to lure him out. He clutched on to the broken pieces of his heart, mourning losses and regrets, not knowing how to let go, barely sleeping and eating. Wonwoo’s memories of this time were fuzzy, just like someone sweeping over the memories with a bad eraser, managing in erasing some, while others are just getting smudged and distorted.

In the end it was Jihoon, who kicked him out of the misery – quiet literally. Banging his fist on the table he started a not so children friendly rant on the sketchy persona called Wonwoo’s ex, before dragging Wonwoo out of the apartment, refusing to let him in again till the other one had found his self-worth again (being locked out in the winter at 11pm in your pajamas surely does a lot to your self-esteem)

Shortly afterwards, he neatly packed up the topic love in a drawer and pushed it back in the dusty corners of the part of his brain called “Wonu’s life”.

Since then, every romantic approach was shot down in its core, Wonwoo remaining single while his friends sigh at the hurt expression of the approacher, a quick “he isn’t the guy for romance” thrown in as an explanation. Wonwoo rather sought fulfillment in his job, making people happy this way through working hard was appreciation enough; pets were the better humans after all.

Or this was his line of reasoning till Kim Mingyu heaved his jet-black cat in his office, all sad puppy eyes on display.

And now Wonwoo was confused to say the least.

After a disastrous Tuesday, where he almost squeezed the paw of a cat too hard trying to cut its claws because a certain someone surged into his mind, he decided he needed to do something against it.

**Jeonghan-hyung**

Ohh is that about your boy-problem?

Don’t worry, I give the best advice

;)

Despite claiming of having the best advice around town, Jeonghan still charged for it. His “friendship-price” included one Starbucks drink and one of the even more overpriced sandwiches they sold at Paris Baguette.

Wonwoo couldn’t stop himself from impatiently tapping the table, the older one taking his time biting in his sandwich with pleasure.

“So, I assume you already knew why I wrote you?”

Jeonghan took a gulp from his coffee and swallowed it down.

“Someone is very eager to get to the point today. Let’s just say it makes its word around.”

Instead of demanding more information on that part, Wonwoo just gave up, his shoulders sagging in.

“Hyung, what do I do.”

The sigh escaping Jeonghan’s mouth sounded a lot more sympathetic now and he finally took his attention away from the food in front of him.

“Wonwoo. You are 28. You can’t always run from it.”

Jeonghan felt obligated to elaborate more when Wonwoo stayed silent.

“You had one bad experience. It sucked and it hurt, but would you say that every Pepperoni Pizza is bad when you ate one particularly shitty?”

Having retorted to food metaphors now, Jeonghan started drinking his coffee again.

“Maybe Mingyu is an extremely tasty pepperoni pizza, the tastiest there is, but you will be forever missing out, stuck with the stale one you are used to.”

“Jeonghan, I asked you for advice, not to make me hungry.”

Jeonghan let out a dramatic sigh, giving him a pitiful look.

“Just ask him out, Won. You don’t have to jump into a relationship immediately, just date a while. And after you found out he is indeed a tasty pizza, then commit.”

Wonwoo started nibbling on his lips, still not looking completely sold.

“I will send Seungcheol after him should he break your heart. But from the things I heard from Soonyoung and Jihoon, he seemed like a nice kid. Believe a little bit in yourself. The sole reason you even asked me is proof that it is something serious.”

“What if he doesn’t like me.”

Jeonghan laughed so hard, he started choking.  
“You kidding me? No one deducts three cocktails from his paycheck for his cat. Someone wanted to impress you.”

In one big bite he finished both his coffee and sandwich.

“Live a little Won, this is the thrill of life.”

The thrill of life. Those words stuck with Wonwoo the whole week, while he waited for Mingyu’s last visit to roll around.

As expected Jeonghan had turned out to be the most valuable advice. Soonyoung proposed a weird mating dance while Jihoon’s brilliant idea was to threaten Mingyu with the three unpaid Cocktails should he say no.

Together with Jeonghan he established a gameplan. Well, sort of. Wonwoo liked to call it a “plan” to keep his nerves at bay. After the whole procedure was done, Peaches safely stored in her box, he would casually slide over the question if Mingyu would willingly give his number to him, followed up by the question if he could take him out for dinner. To be honest, there was nothing casual about it and maybe Wonwoo was extremely stressed and nervous. He knew the set-up wasn’t perfect, he was still the doctor in the room, Mingyu basically the customer with the patient in his hands, but it wouldn’t get more ideal than this (and showing up at Mingyu’s workplace would only reproduce those structures anyways). This was his one shot and he had to make sure to shoot it well.

Even though he may had to take some tranquillizers before.

Wonwoo eyed the dreaded button for a moment, before deciding there was no use in stalling even more.

He pushed it.

Cue to Mingyu entering the room, his signature grin on his lips, sparkling eyes and oh god, Wonwoo could feel himself falling even more. He needed to get this out of his way, at least he could burry those thoughts about puppy eyes and canines after his very likely rejection.

Wonwoo cleared his throat. Head in the game, Peaches health shouldn’t suffer from his lovesickness.

“I assume nothing bad happened?”

He welcomed his patient as Mingyu placed his cat in a box on the ground.

“No, not at all. Actually, she is even more active than before. You must have had a good influence on her.”

Wonwoo stopped for a moment. Was this a compliment or was he tripping hard? But nothing good came from reading too much into people’s words, so he (hopefully) glided gracefully over it.

“Maybe she just doesn’t want to see me anymore?”

Well done, Jeon Wonwoo.

Mingyu laughed at that too.

“Do I hear some insecurity in your voice?”

Wonwoo swatted the sentence away like a fly. At least Mingyu didn’t seem to be upset over the things Wonwoo said back in the bar. Maybe this would not be as bad as he thought it would.

Ten minutes in Wonwoo roaming Peaches body to stall time, it indeed was. All the words he had prepared were swiped from his brain, like a computer that had been set back to reset. On autopilot he placed Peaches again in her box, black fur clinging to his coat, at least one goodbye souvenir.

“All the issues seem to be resolved.”

His grave voice didn’t fit the words coming out of his mouth. But Mingyu didn’t seem to be as happy with the situation as it should be expected, some unreadable expression taking over, before it was all washed away again, drowning in a wide smile.

Wonwoo turned his head to the silent cat in her cage to not send his brain into analyzing mood, this was reserved for later, when he was laying in his bed, mourning lost chances and loneliness.

There was not much to say anymore, besides the burning question in Wonwoo’s throat, which was fighting to get set free and to spread its wings, but Wonwoo swallowed it down repeatedly, his brain still blank of any plans he had made with Jeonghan beforehand.

This was not how he had seen this day going. All his fantasies had ended with him getting embarrassed and denied but not of even being too shy to spit out the words themselves.

To buy more time, Wonwoo started scribbling away on a paper, pretending to be busy filling out an important form. But at one point he couldn’t prolong their goodbye anymore.

“If anything comes up, you can call anytime.”

_Please come back soon._

Mingyu shot him his signature grin, standing up and grabbing his cat case. He bowed slightly in Wonwoo’s direction.

“Thank you so much for taking good care of us here.”

And with that he turned and started walking away. 

Mingyu’s back was retreating alarmingly fast to the door and Wonwoo was panicking. Like a lot.

“Doyouwanttogoonadatewithme?”

The words were out, he almost shouted them and Mingyu froze in his tracks.

Shit.

Wonwoo cleared his throat and somewhat tried to make the situation less awkward with repeating his words, this time a lot quieter, in the hopes Mingyu would not hear them at all.

“Do you want to go out with me?”

While he didn’t dare facing Mingyu after he had let his tongue lose, the silence afterwards made him even more nervous and he finally let his gaze wander back. He braced himself for whatever he would see.

Disgust? Maybe. Pity? Likely. Rejection? Oh, definitely.

Instead, he found Mingyu’s face in a deep shade of red, his mouth slightly agape, the transport case dangling forgotten from his side.

“W-what?”

“If you don’t want to, it’s cool too. Don’t think you have to do this; you can say no.”

Mingyu closed his mouth for a moment, just to open it again with no sound coming out of it.

Wonwoo started to pray that this moment of rejection would be over soon and he could go back to his everyday life, picking up his heart once again, storing it in a drawer and forget he ever met someone like Kim Mingyu. No matter how nonchalant his words sounded, he may have put his whole existence on the line for them.

“I-i..”

Mingyu visibly struggled. He needed some time to be able to articulate words, but he managed it in the end.

“Do you really mean that?”

It was that moment Wonwoo decided to at least go out with a bang.

“I like you, Mingyu.”

For one moment Wonwoo thought Mingy would really drop Peache here and now. But he caught himself just in time, provoking an enraged meowl, the first time not showing any interest in her.

There was a beat of silence and then-

“Can you say that again?”, came finally the breathless words over Mingyu’s lips.

“I like you.”

Bewilderment took over Wonwoo’s face when Mingyu’s face split into a huge grin.

“I like you too, hyung. Oh yes, please take me out on a date or I might actually combust with all the feelings I have.”

The room started spinning upon those words,

“Wait what.”

“I like you too.”

Hearing the words, they still didn’t make any sense and he finally could understand Mingyu’s struggle from before. Having been ready to get rejected from the start, Wonwoo had no plan on how to handle acceptance. And that’s why the next words blurted out of him, accompanied with a nervous laugh.

“So, you really did flirt, huh.”

Mingyu’s grin became even more prominent, accompanied by a dark shade of red taking over his face.

“I just didn’t think I would have stood a chance. I thought I was the one pushing my agenda on you. I mean, here you are, a vet. And I am just that weird guy who cried over his cat and clutched your hand. So, unsuccessful flirting seemed like my only option.”

“You also paid for three cocktails.”

This made Mingyu laugh, Wonwoo finding himself smiling to the sound against his will, almost wanting to enjoy the sound more, but he had a feeling he would get to do this a lot more in the future.

“You know, my paycheck took a big hitch from it.”

The teasing was quickly replaced by a smug look on his face.

“But worth it, seeing you can’t forget about it.”

Now it was Wonwoo’s turn to let out a breathy laugh, the tension slowly melting out of his body.

“I am glad, though. It seemed no matter what I did I didn’t come through to you. And in the end, I was just the weird person who developed a crush on the vet he had seen only three times.”

Wonwoo hadn’t been prepared for such honest words pouring out of Mingyu; but he took them with a smile.

“You know, this is the moment where I offer you my phone number and you promise me to definitely text me.”

Mingyu immediately scrambled for his phone in one of the many pockets of his jacket, placing Peaches on the floor for better access of unlocking it, passing the device to Wonwoo with trembling hands.

Cute.

A smile stayed on Wonwoo’s face the whole time he pressed in his number, labeling his contact with a simple “Wonu”.

After handing it back there was this silence with both not knowing how to split up, still smiling almost blissfully at each other, till Wonwoo remembered he had to be a functioning adult and was actually paid to be here.

“I would love to spend more time, but work is calling.”

Mingyu looked like he had been woken up from a dream, his ears turning scarlet and he hastily picked up Peaches, looking like a puppy being discovered doing something naughty.

Even cuter.

“Ah, I am sorry for interrupting. Please text back when I gather my courage to do so?”

Wonwoo stared into pleading puppy eyes, insecurity dripping from the words.

“Of course. I did not almost suffer a heart attack to not text you back.”

Mingyu opened his mouth to say something again, in the end just settled for a soft smile.

“I will be going then.”

“Take care.”

The door clicked and gone was the human-sized puppy, but Wonwoo’s heart remained full of feelings he didn’t remember having.

**Unknown number**

Hello, Dr. Jeon

I want to book an appointment to officially hold your hand

**You**

I’m deleting your number again

Noo, pls don’t : (((

Pls give me a cute nickname instead

**You**

You don’t know when to stop, do you?

**Mingyu**

When it comes to you, never uwu

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think they would be closed today.”  
Mingyu let the door fall shut behind him, slipping out from his shoes.

“I wanted to eat your homemade food more anyways.”

A smile curled around Wonwoo’s face at seeing the slight blush on Mingyu’s face, produced from his words.

Over the course of the four months they have dated till now, Wonwoo had learned that Mingyu blushed rather often. He blushed when he complimented his food, stretched himself upwards to place a kiss on his noise or sometimes it was just enough to spare him one particular glance and Mingyu transformed into a blushing mess (Wonwoo loved everything about it). Besides Mingyu’s frequent blushing he learned a lot of other things about the other. For example, that he studied architecture in his last year and only needed the Bar-job to pay his bills and the cat food. That Peaches was originally his flatmates but he moved abroad and Mingyu got stuck with the cat, which desperately clinged to him. That he loved cooking (and loved feeding Wonwoo with it). That he couldn’t watch horror movies and insisted on holding Wonwoo’s hand. That he was an actual crybaby that had mood swings and needed cuddles to feel better from them. There was so much about Mingyu that Wonwoo had explored the last months, but he still felt like he only scraped the surface of Mingyu’s personality. To the distaste of his friends he often started rambling about it (“I swear, if I knew you would turn out that way, I would have raised my advice-prices” “but you actually adore Mingyu.” “my point still stands.”), but he couldn’t help it. Talking about Mingyu just came naturally to him.

Peaches had heard the commotion at the door and decided to show up, meowing displeased when she saw Wonwoo standing there.

This was a better reaction than the first time Mingyu brought him over. Hissing the whole time, they had stayed in one room and eventually refusing to come out of her hiding till he was gone, their beginning had started off with some hitches. “It is probably because I smell like the vet.”, was Wonwoo’s explanation for a sad looking Mingyu, who couldn’t stand the thought of the two not getting along with each other. “And maybe she is not used to sharing.”

Now, Peaches just resorted back to giving Wonwoo the cold shoulder, while purring around Mingyu in an attempt to make Wonwoo jealous for the attention she received (and maybe it worked, Wonwoo always made sure to presses kisses on Mingyu’s face when she was definitely looking).

Like now, pressing kisses to his face so Mingyu struggled getting out of coat, too distracted by lips leaving wet trails on his skin.

When Mingyu bent down to give Peaches her pets, he was breathless enough and with a smug grin Wonwoo slid into the kitchen with the satisfaction of having Mingyu “greeted” in his home first.

Wonwoo woke from the ugly sounds of his alarm blaring through the quiet of the room. Refusing to open his eyes, his hand automatically wandered to the obnoxious sound, experimental pats now and then on the mattress to locate it. Finally, his fingers curled around the object, eyes squinting due to the brightness of the screen, still half blind from sleep and his glasses not sitting on his nose. 

Mingyu had refused to get his sleep disturbed, only stirring a little, burring his face even deeper in Wonwoo’s chest, not moving an inch from where he had slung his arms around Wonwoo’s middle.

A smile creeped on Wonwoo’s face at this scene, allowing himself to take the short time of letting his fingers comb through his boyfriend’s hair, knowing too well this sleeping position needed to get interrupted now.

He softly wiggled out of the embrace, placing a big Shiba-plushie in Mingyu’s arms (Wonwoo had won it at their third date an arcade for Mingyu, after having seen the glances thrown its way). Mingyu instantly curled his body around it, smushing his face in the soft plush. Satisfied with his work Wonwoo left the bedroom.

Halfway on the way to the kitchen he met Peaches. Having, of course, heard his steps, she was here to demand her breakfast, letting out a sad mewl to emphasize her thesis of her starving to death (probably very likely much now, if Wonwoo didn’t hurry up). With another smile Wonwoo very much obliged, filling up the bowl with the premium cat-food Mingyu always insisted on buying (“She only deserves the best”), Peaches instantly indulging.

When leaving the bathroom, he met her in the hallway again, this time disappearing in the bedroom to probably assist her owner at sleeping in till noon. Wonwoo made a quick stop at the kitchen, filling his body with coffee and a half cream bread. Mingyu always insisted on Wonwoo eating breakfast every morning (and who was he to argue with him); they were still working on the healthy part.

Like every morning at 7:40, he grabbed his bag from one of the kitchen chairs, placed his lunchbox in it and went for one last visit in the bedroom.

As expected, Peaches had curled up on the end of the bed, not bothering to see him off. Mingyu was still clinging to the plushie, but now with one opened eye, tiredness written all over his face.

“I’m heading out, love.”

Mingyu let out a grumbling sound, something between a confirmation and a protest. Wonwoo smiled nonetheless, at this point knowing Mingyu’s morning antics too well. He knew with certainty that in less than three hours his phone would be flooded with messages solely containing different heart-emojis.

Despite the not so enthusiastic response Wonwoo bent down to press a soft kiss on Mingyu’s forehead. He had also found out that his boyfriend had certain routines which involved goodbye and hello kisses and the reaction of not getting them was being sulky for the whole day, throwing sad glances around.

“See you this evening.”

With those words Wonwoo slipped into his coat, shoes and out of the flat.

Indeed, Mingyu was the tastiest Pizza out there.

**Author's Note:**

> my headcanon is the two cats Peaches and Wonwoo rivaliving for puppygyu's love. 
> 
> if you want, you can hit me up on my (not very active and boring) [twitter](https://twitter.com/puffygyus).
> 
> happy new year!


End file.
